


The Mask Falls Off

by leo_richardson



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Albus Dumbledore Bashing, BAMF Harry Potter, Dom Harry, F/M, Ginny Weasley Bashing, Greater Good Dumbledore, Light Dom/sub, Manipulative Albus Dumbledore, Master of Death Harry Potter, Molly Weasley Bashing, Morally Grey Harry Potter, Morally Grey Hermione Granger, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Redeemed Draco Malfoy, Ron Weasley Bashing, Severus Snape Bashing, Smart Harry, Sub Hermione Granger
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:22:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24898366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leo_richardson/pseuds/leo_richardson
Summary: Before Hogwarts, a chance meeting with a someone reveals some startling truths. Harry Potter is not what he seems. He is not a pawn who just follows orders. He's been silent for two years and now it is time for him to face his destiny.After facing the boggart in his third year, he sees his chance to strike down his enemies - and takes it. Now people will know the real Harry Potter when the mask falls off.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Harry Potter, Luna Lovegood/Draco Malfoy, Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks, Sirius Black/Amelia Bones, Susan Bones/Neville Longbottom
Comments: 13
Kudos: 128





	The Mask Falls Off

**Author's Note:**

> "" - The quotation represents the dialogues  
>  _'Who are you Harry Potter?'_ \- The italic words in the quotation represents the thoughts  
> § "Exradico" § - This represents Parseltongue  
>  **"The Deathly Hallows"** \- The bold words in quotation represent the voice of death
> 
> * * *

#  It All Begins 

* * *

Hermione was currently sitting in the Hogwarts Library. She was livid at herself. She had just come back from the divination class.

“ _Why the hell did I even join that class?_ ”, she thought. She was getting frustrated by the fact that the divination professor was such a hoax. At first, she was excited by the fact of getting all the O.W.Ls but that excitement was soon washed off by when she first attended Divination and Muggle Studies.

Sighing to herself, she left the library to attend the DADA class. Today they had class with the Hufflepuff house. Arriving at the door of the class, thirty minutes early, she made her way in. Inside the classroom she saw that only other person present was Harry Potter, who was sitting quietly. She wondered where Ron was, since he usually follows Harry.

Moving towards him, she realized that Harry was reading a book that she didn’t recognize. Curiosity got the better of her and she lightly tapped his shoulder. Startled by the tap, Harry had a stunner ready to be fired from the end of his wand. Alarmed by the wand pointing towards her, Hermione took a step back.

“Sorry, I don’t know who it was.”, apologized Harry while shifting towards the other side of the bench to make room for her.

Hermione nodded in understanding and sat down. With an inquisitive look on her face, she asked “What is that book. I haven’t seen a book like this before?”

Seeing no way to get out of it, Harry honestly replied, “It’s a book that deals with parselmagic. Unfortunately, I can’t lend this to you since you can’t read or speak Parseltongue.”

“But Harry, parselmagic is dark!”, exclaimed a horrified Hermione.

“Really? Well I am a Parselmouth, so does it also mean I am a dark wizard like everyone said in my second year?”, snapped Harry.

“No… No I really didn’t mean that. I just-”, whatever Hermione was about to say next was cut off by Harry who placed a finger on her lips. She blushed at the sudden contact.

“I know.. I know. I am sorry that I snapped at you. But let me tell you this, right now, I am reading this solely for educational purposes. Do you understand?”, Harry explained gently while reading his book.

“Yes, Harry. I am sorry for jumping to the conclusions.”, replied Hermione while nodding her head in understanding.

“Good girl”, replied Harry without even looking up from the book. A sudden blush spread across Hermione’s face. Her heart fluttered at his response. She realized that she liked it when Harry praised her. Changing the subject quickly she asked him about Ron.

Shrugging his shoulders, Harry replied that Ron had a little problem and won’t be attending the class with them. Getting no further information from him, Hermione opened up her own DADA book and started reading.

Soon the classroom was filled with the students.

Before starting his lecture, Lupin noticed Harry reading an odd book. But that didn’t bother him. The thing that concerned him was Harry’s size and built. He was small for his age and looked a little pale as compared to other students. Dropping those thoughts for now, Lupin turned himself towards the students and explained about boggarts.

With the flick of his wand, a cabinet appeared. He further explained the charm used against a boggart. Within a few seconds all the students formed a line and everyone was waiting to face their biggest fear.

Hermione was standing right behind Harry. She was a little worried for him. She didn’t really want her Harry to face Voldemort again. “ _Wait, her Harry… Where did that come from? Her Harry… No, he’s only my best friend… my first friend, but I won’t mind if we become something more..._ ”. She was broken out of her thoughts soon as Harry started walking towards the cabinet.

He stood there calmly when the boggart suddenly disappeared into the cabinet. Before anyone could register what happened, they all heard a voice.

From the blackness came a sound no living thing could ever make. “ **We were right. We were always right** ”.

The voice seemed to stop for a second. Whoever or whatever was speaking those words, perhaps was once alive but rendered into a spirit that contorted with pain and loathing. After a couple seconds, the same toneless guttural voice was heard. “ **We will be alone forever. Death is not the answer. We have failed ourselves. We should have died…** ”, the voice trailed off.

The voice seemed so unnatural and it sounded it didn’t belong to someone alive, almost disembodied. Everyone, but the boy who lived, was taken aback by it. They were all stunned at the words coming from the boggart.

A million questions ran through everyone’s mind, but they soon came back to reality as the boggart made its first appearance. The cabinet opened, and a figure stepped through. At they laid the first glance on the figure, everyone was horrified. A couple of Hufflepuffs screamed while some hid behind the Gryffindors. A few Gryffindors were also trying to cower behind the professor.

Hermione’s knees went weak and she could only watch Harry facing the boggart in pure terror. Not a sound came from her mouth, though it was hung open.

The boggart was none other than Harry Potter himself. But something wasn’t quite right. This boggart Harry released an aura which could only be described as deadly in nature. It seemed like Harry’s boggart was blessed by death itself. He no longer resembled a short scrawny kid. He was at least 6 feet tall and his no-longer messy black hair reached down to his shoulders. His cheekbones were high. One noticeable difference was that instead of the lightning-bolt scar, a long-jagged scar snaked down the right side of his neck. It was an unusual scar, an odd mixture of bright white and gold. His eyes had lost their original color. Instead of being emerald, they were blue (with a little mix of black) and they were glowing brighter than the Miami shallows. His chiseled face matched his chiseled body.

His black robes fit him perfectly. The dark and capacious cloak tied around his neck brought out his personality. His hands, the only body part visible apart from his head, were almost un-natural in appearance. The right hand supported three rings. Rings which could only be described as magical. The left one, to everyone’s surprise, supported a ring and a staff. He even made simple robes look charming.

A few seconds passed, the boggart stared at Harry, who looked completely unfazed, and continued, “ **You cannot run from your destiny, accept it. We should have left the mortal realm. We should have died with Voldemort. The prophecy -** ”

“You are right. We should have died.”, interrupted Harry in an abrasive manner while nodding his head in agreement. Harry suddenly pointed his holly wand towards the boggart and whispered ‘ ** _exradico_** ’, loud enough for the nearby students and the professor to hear.

The boggart obliterated into thousand fragments. The time seemed to stop for everyone who was watching the young man in awe and fear.

After getting his thoughts together, Lupin approached Harry and asked, “Mr. Potter are.. are you alright?”

After a couple seconds Harry broke the silence. “I apologize for the misconduct on my behalf professor Lupin. I shouldn’t have used the obliteration spell.” he explained in a low-tired voice.

Lupin waved his apology off, “No... No Mr. Potter, it is just completely unheard of a third year casting such high-power spell, since it results in expenditure of a lot of magical power as well as put strains on your body. As exhausted as you sound, I believe a trip to the infirmary for pepper up potion is in order. Take 50 points for Gryffindor.”

Harry simply nodded in acceptance. Harry then moved towards Hermione, who engulfed him into a hug. Harry just patted her back and whispered, “Not here. I will tell you somewhere private.”

Since the boggart was destroyed, Lupin dismissed the class and assigned a foot-long essay on ‘How to defend yourselves against a boggart?’.

Hermione then left the classroom with Harry. As soon as they were out of any hearing range, Harry grabbed her hand and guided them towards an empty classroom. Hermione was still distressed about Harry facing the boggart and the things it said to Harry made her shudder. She engulfed him into what Harry called hermione-hugs.

“Harry.. Please tell me what happened back there. Why your boggart imitated you and what did it mean by death is not the answer?”, she continued babbling until Harry placed a finger on her lips. Hermione flushed a little. It was a bit embarrassing, but such sudden contact by Harry made her heart flutter, even though she may never admit it.

After what felt like an eternity, Harry removed his finger and responded “Sush.. Hermione, one day you will understand Hermione… one day. But certainly not now. Right now, I have got some -”

“But Harry, you can trust me.. I swear I will help in any way.”, Hermione interrupted in a concerned tone.

Before he could reject her proposal, Harry felt her warm tears landing on his shirt. He protectively wrapped his own arms around her and let her cry her heart out.

“That thing, dear Merlin, Harry, what was that thing? Please Harry, I don’t want anything happen to you.”, she pleaded between her sobs. Her sincere voice and look of worry melted his heart. He hated seeing her like this, but he had to do this, he still had to face his destiny.

“Calm down Hermione, it’s going to be okay. I’m here.”, he assured her by whispering soothing words in her ear. He guided them towards a bench. After a while, she calmed down and looked up meeting his eyes. Harry wandlessly conjured a tissue and wiped her eyes and face.

“ _I could always get lost in his eyes_ ”, she thought. A sudden blush appeared on her face. What she didn’t know was that Harry was thinking the same.

After a moment, he broke the silence, “Hermione, I know I can trust you with my life, but...” he trailed off. After seeing look of dejection on her face, he sighed and softly asked, “Do you trust me?”.

“With my life”, she replied without hesitation.

“I see.”, Harry hesitantly replied.

After a couple seconds he added, “You know Hermione, I have been very observant and a bit paranoid since the troll incident. You admitted trusting me with your life but you still are lying about a few things. For instance, I had noticed your sudden fondness for the cream and dislike for water since the Polyjuice incident. I also know about the contacts you wear.”

Hermione’s expression transitioned from dejection to a bit shocked. She looked a little perplexed and embarrassed by his discovery. She ducked her head down in fear of rejection. Little tears welled into her eyes. He just held her closer and wiped away her tears with brush of his thumbs.

After a couple minutes, she broke the silence, “I know Harry. I really apologize for keeping secrets from you. I understand if you don’t want to be friends with a freak like me. I also understand-”.

Before she could even finish her sentence, Harry sat down and glided her into his lap. She let out a little “Eep” on the sudden contact. Harry stared straight into her chocolate brown eyes as she did into his emerald ones. A pink hue appeared on both teens’ cheeks.

After a while, both got into a comfortable position and he smiled, “I know what you are about to say Hermione. Please don’t talk like that.”

Harry quickly elevated her fears by lifting her head and giving an assuring smile. “Hermione, when we became friends, you never saw me as royalty, neither you treated me as one. I am so glad to have you by my side, my Hermione. I really don’t care about how your eyes look, because you will always be beautiful to me. Don’t get me wrong Hermione, you are smart and pretty, but in my opinion your loving and caring heart is your most amazing aspect.”, he genuinely said pulling her closer to him.

“ _I won’t cry, I won’t.._ ” thought Hermione as she tried to fight back tears. But soon her tears were soaking his shirt. “ _To hell with it, I will cry_ ” was here last thought before Harry rubbed her back and kissed her on the forehead.

After a couple for moments, he continued, “Hermione, listen”, he stated staring at her, “If you really want me to tell you about that boggart and prophecy… I really want you to trust me. This kind of information, if in wrong hands, would mean the end of the magical Britain. I want you to promise me not to tell this to any professor or any student without my consent, even if it meant lying to the authority”, he finished with a cheeky grin.

Hermione was a little torn between her choices. Here was a young man, her Harry, slayer of troll and basilisk asking her to choose between him or the authority she always followed and admired.

After a few seconds, she picked up her wand and stated, “I Hermione Jean Granger, in my own conscious and without being under influence of any potion, do swear on my life and magic, never to betray Harry James Potter and to follow him to the very end, so mote it be”. As soon as she finished her oath, a golden aura surrounded her and Harry.

“Hermione, an oath wasn’t necessary, your word is enough for me!”, exclaimed a startled Harry.

She just looked at him dreamingly and whispered, “I know Harry, but I trust you, so don’t worry”.

“I really have no words for you, I don’t know if to angry at your foolishness or to be happy at your dedication.”, remarked Harry while supporting a grin on his face.

She answered, “A little bit of both”, before biting on her bottom lip, an action Harry founded to be cute.

“Very well Hermione, as promised I will tell you everything, but right now let’s have lunch. I am famished”, said Harry pointing to his stomach which made a rumbling sound in acceptance.

Hermione just giggled at him and nodded. Smiling, to themselves, they both got up and started walking towards the great hall for lunch, hand in hand.

Suddenly, Harry had an idea and he skipped pass the hall and walked towards the stairs. “Harry, the hall is that way”, Hermione stated, a little confused as Harry climbed up the grand stairs.

Harry gave her his lopsided grin that made her blush and replied, “I know Mione, I just want us to have some private time and you need a break from all the stress you’ve been in, since using the time turner.”

She dropped dead in her tracks and had an expression which could only be described as a mix of embarrassment and surprise. He answered her unasked question, “As I told you, I’ve been very observant of the surroundings. I know why you hid the fact from me and I am not upset about it. I will tell you about how I found about the time-turner in our private discussion. Right now, let’s head to the kitchen.”

She just simply nodded and started following him. She was intrigued by the enigma named Harry Potter. _“Who are you Harry Potter?”_

**Author's Note:**

> This will be a badass MOD Harry story and I will try to update the story every other week. The reviews are welcomed


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